Tag Archives: art

We have two new 2017 wall calendars in our Etsy shop that I’m excited about and want to preview here as this might just be the perfect time to order one.Each calendar is large (14.25 x 11 inches) and printed on sturdy high-quality paper with vibrant full-color.

The first we call Ice and Fire, a nature photo calendar that includes stunning images from Iceland, the High Sierras and the Colorado Rockies. These amazing photos were taken on trips that my sister and brother, Joni and Craig, made this summer, and I think you’ll find this calendar is a page turner.

Here’s what it looks like.

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Secrets & Dreams is an art calendar that showcases my art work, and here’s a peek at it.

Tip: Before I introduce a new piece today I want to say a word to photographers who are interested in taking their work into the realm of the photo artist; a place of creativity, individuality, and sometimes if we’re lucky, a little magic.

The very first order of business is to become a collector- of papers, textures, elements; anything that might bring life to your piece. I literally have hundreds of papers, textures and things as well as my photos. Many textures & backgrounds can be gotten free by googling ‘free photo backgrounds.’ Free images can be found at https://creativecommons.org. When I’m looking for something new I purchase papers & kits, and one of my favorite places is https://e-scapeandscrap.net/boutique. You’ll find many sales and occasional free items, and this is a great site for scrapbookers.

Once you’ve collected images and elements the next order of business is to organize them into folders. I have folders for Papers & Textures, which I have sub-divided into categories of Colors, Edges-Frames-Overlays, Splotches, Scribbles, Scratched Surfaces, Brushes & Text, Clouds-Moon-Stars just to name a few as well as folders called Critters, Botanicals, Patterns-Graphics-Icons, and Victorian-Steampunk.

‘The Sound of Silence’ is the title of the piece I’ll be working with today, and we’ll start with the finished image and work backward.

The image begins with a gray speckled paper, which I duplicated twice putting an impressionist painting filter on one layer and an ink-watercolor filter on the other. Blend modes and opacities are shown on each.

Once the base layer is in place I add a very nice grungy gray/blue background and a sunspot.

A photo I took on the Okefenokee swamp is cropped, reversed horizontally, duplicated, and blended in luminosity mode at a 50% opacity. The duplicate is given a sketchy watercolor filter, blended in soft light mode with a 75% opacity.

Next come the flying geese and the text.

The text was blended in hard light mode at 40% opacity.

The final touches include the addition of a gorgeous blue/brown background and a starry background.

Finally the panel layer from Photoshop. The layers were not originally placed as they are here, but this is the final stacking before the image is flattened.